JP2791160B2 - Chest surround for breathing apparatus - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a chest enclosure used in combination with an air oscillator to assist in breathing a patient's lungs.

In medical practice, it is often necessary to assist the patient in breathing. This is most often intubated in patients,
This is done by sending periodic positive air pressure through the inserted tube to the patient's lungs.

 Intubation has a number of clinical and practical disadvantages.

As an alternative to the intubation method, an external breathing device in a predetermined form may be used. Known forms of external breathing apparatus have the drawback of being immobile and costly to be effective.

One known form of external respiratory device is the so-called "iron lung", in which the patient places everything under his neck. Another form of external respirator is the so-called "cuirass
ventilator), which is typically attached to the patient's back with a rigid plate attached above the patient's chest, leaving room for the chest to expand, and attached to the back plate, for example, a strap. And a tortoise-like chest cover worn by the torso. The chest cover is intended to seal the patient's chest and has a padded rim for sealing. Typically, the strap that holds the chest cover in place is stretched to the level of the waistline well below the patient's axilla.

The chest cover is generally rigid, and there is a problem in properly attaching the chest cover to a particular patient. For best results, the chest cover must be tailored to each patient.

To maintain a satisfactory seal between the chest cover and the patient's body, the patient must be lying still.

Due to the rigidity of the chest cover and the lines through which the straps hold and hold the chest cover down on the patient's chest,
The movement of the ribs produced by the use of the device, ie the respiratory action, is limited, which makes it less effective.

Chest covers are usually made of fiberglass and are expensive, especially since they are made to fit the patient. Each size fits only a limited range of patients. A large number of different chest covers are required to fit patients from infants to large adults.

 This type of device has been used for at least 60 years.

The present invention relates to a chest enclosure used to generate assisted breathing of the lungs of a patient, comprising: a tunnel covering the chest, made of rigid but flexible plastic; A wall member made of an air-impermeable, flexible cushioning material at each end of the body, each having a concave radially inner perimeter for contacting and sealing the front of the patient's body; A band made of a flexible, air-impermeable material extending from each of the longitudinally extending edges of said tunnel-like member for encasing in an overlapping relationship about the chest region of the patient's back; Means for securing the band to hold the band in the overlapping relationship;
In use, a chest enclosure is provided that includes an air passage to the enclosure for connection to an air oscillator that creates a periodic change in air pressure.

The tunnel is formed by folding a plastic sheet into a tunnel, the end of the tunnel (closer to the patient's neck) preferably having a central tongue extending forward. This brings the line in contact with the patient's body as close as possible to the sternum so as to minimize the effect on the swelling of the rib structures.

The plastic material is preferably 0.5 to 3 mm thick, more preferably 0.75 to 2.25 mm thick, for example 1 mm or 2 mm. Use a thinner plastic material for smaller enclosures. In adult enclosures, a substantially thicker plastic material is suitable.

A suitable plastic is polycarbonate. Alternatively, a plastic material having substantially the same rigidity and flexibility as a polycarbonate sheet having a thickness of 1 to 2 mm may be used.

 Preferably, the plastic material is transparent.

The wall member is preferably a foam material containing closed cells. Each wall member has a radially outer portion of a relatively rigid foam material (eg, neoprene foam) and a radially inner portion of a relatively soft foam material (eg, PVC foam). This assists in free movement of the ribs and does not prevent the side wall portions of the tunnel-like member from flexing outward or inward to accommodate an enclosure for a patient of a substantial range of physique. It helps to avoid collapsing the relatively stiff but flexible plastic tunnel and provides an excellent cushion to the patient's body.

Each band is preferably of a width such that it extends substantially the entire length of each edge of the tunnel. The band is preferably a foam material containing closed cells having the same or similar softness as that used for the flexible, closed cell foam material of the end walls.

One of the bands is preferably shorter than the other, and in use the shorter band is located inside the longer band.

One of the bands is preferably thicker than the other, for example the thinner one may be about 5 mm thick and the other about 1 cm thick.

Desirably, the free end of the outer band is mountable by fastening means on the opposite side of the tunnel.

It is particularly preferred that the securing means act to provide sealing tension, typically at each end of the tunnel-like member and the row of outer bands.

This ensures that, in a properly sized enclosure, the ribs will remain free to inflate the thorax, so that one sealing band will be approximately below the patient's axilla and the other below the diaphragm. Tension is applied. This is to be distinguished from the configuration of prior known known scapular-type devices in which the ribs are severely constrained by tensioning a band that extends just above the diaphragm.

Thus, the securing means extend substantially parallel to each other from the sides of the tunnel, each secured to and extending beyond the outer band, and each attached to the opposite side of the tunnel. It preferably includes a pair of strap members that cooperate with the connecting means provided.

The coupling means may be a hook and loop type pad, and the cooperating hook and loop type material may be provided on an extended portion of the strap member, or the entire strap member may be such material.

The hook-and-loop fastener type is any removable and capable of bonding microfiber hooks on the surface of one member's material to microfiber loops upstanding on the cooperating surface of the other member's material. It means a reusable fiber bonding method.

The present invention includes a respiratory device used to generate assisted breathing of the patient's lungs, including such an enclosure together with an air oscillator. The air oscillator is for generating a periodic change in air pressure and may be of the usual type, such as described in European Patent Specification 0192337 or European Patent Application 87901084.1. can do.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described by preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.

EXAMPLE As shown in FIG. 1, the enclosure of the present invention includes a tunnel 1 made of a 1 mm thick polycarbonate sheet. The tunnel 1 is formed by bending a flat polycarbonate sheet into a substantially semi-cylindrical shape. Before bending this sheet into a tunnel shape, the sheet is cut so as to provide a tongue 2 projecting forward.

At each end of the tunnel-like member 1, a nearly crescent-shaped part 3 made of a dense, relatively hard, closed-cell foam material, extending slightly beyond the edge of the tunnel-like member, is fixed with an adhesive. ing. At each end of the tunnel-like member 1, a crescent-shaped part 4 made of a foam material that is softer and contains closed cells extending beyond the end is fixed to the inner surface of the crescent-shaped rigid foam material 3.

The softer foam material and the harder foam material can be fixed to each other by an adhesive. Preferably, the adhesive is such that the two foam material layers can be separated without damaging the harder foam material layer. The softer foam material layer may be replaceable. The softer foam material layer is preferably made of a foam material sheet of the type provided in which the adhesive layer is covered by a removable release sheet to expose the adhesive.

On the outer surface of the tunnel-like member 1 there is provided a pair of male fastener type pads 5 extending from one longitudinal free edge toward the top of the tunnel, one of which is a tunnel-like member. 1 extends immediately adjacent to the straight cut end and the other extends parallel behind a tongue 2 projecting from the opposite bottom corner of the tunnel 1.

A slightly trapezoidal wide band 6 made of a closed-cell type flexible foam material is used to form a tunnel-like member 1 below a pad 5.
Is fixed along the free edge of the. The narrower end of the band 6 is fixed to the tunnel-like member 1 and the wider end is free.

The thickness of the foam material used for this band 6 is about 0.
5 cm.

Extending from the opposite longitudinal free edge of the tunnel-like member 1 is a longer and thicker band 7 of, for example, a material containing similar closed cells having a thickness of about 1 cm. Band 7
Is rectangular and has a width corresponding to that of the smaller end of the band 6.

Parallel strips 8 of female fastener type material are secured to the tunnel-like member 1 and along the long edges of the band 7 by adhesive, and a portion 9 of each strip extends from the free end of the bun 7.

A pair of openings 10 are provided symmetrically with respect to the longitudinal center line of the tunnel-like member 1 toward the straight-cut end of the tunnel-like member 1, and the openings 10 are connected to an air oscillator. The ends of the individual rubber tubes 11 connected by a T-piece 12 providing an entry / exit 13 of the squeeze are pressed. The tunnel 1 is provided with a small opening 14 on its center line so that in use the tube 15 can be inserted to monitor the air pressure in the enclosure.

The method of using the enclosure is as follows. Tongue 2
The tunnel-like member 1 is placed above the patient's chest with the finger pointing toward the chin of the patient. This end of the enclosure should be above the patient's sternum and the opposite end should be below the patient's diaphragm. Pull the shorter band 6 over the patient's back and pull the longer band 7 to the shorter band 6
Hand over and pull. The shorter band 6 can be easily gripped due to the trapezoidal shape. Appropriate tension is applied, and the hook-and-loop fastener type fixing means 9 and 5 are connected together. Both ends of the crescent foam material 4 must be stretched long enough to be placed in contact with the patient's back.

The inlet / outlet 13 is then connected to an air oscillator that is activated to breathe the patient's lungs.

The enclosure has advantages over those conventionally used.

It is much cheaper to manufacture than conventional known fiberglass shell-type pectoral respirators.

Because of the lateral flexibility of the tunnel-like member 1, each size enclosure can be adapted to a wider range of physicians, and only a smaller number of enclosures need to be manufactured.

Because of the large depth of foam material at each end wall and the flexibility of the tunnel-like member, the patient can move, and moderate patient movement does not compromise proper tightness.

The patient can dress when using the device. If desired in the event of contact with the patient's skin, the flexible foam lining the end wall member can be easily replaced when one patient has finished using the enclosure.

In a preferred embodiment, the use of a transparent material allows the patient's chest to be seen, if desired, and may also be X-ray transparent.

The enclosure can be attached to the patient very quickly and is simple enough that a patient of the appropriate age can wear it alone. Therefore, this device is not restricted to use in hospitals, it is suitable for patients to use at home, and patients use the respiratory device only for a limited time of day, Significant benefits can be obtained for certain medical conditions.

The flexibility of the tunnel-like member allows it to provide a heart massage through the enclosure while resisting the forces created by partial evacuation in use.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to examples, the present invention can be modified and modified within the scope of the present invention.

The invention also includes a method of using the device in breathing a patient's lungs.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1 is a side view of the enclosure of the present invention, FIG. 2A is a view of the top end of the enclosure of FIG. 1, FIG. 2B is a view of the bottom end of the same enclosure,
FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a state in which the enclosure of FIGS. 1, 2A and 2B is opened. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Tunnel-shaped member, 2 ... Tongue-shaped part, 3 ... Hard foam material containing closed cells, 4 ... Soft foam material containing closed cells, 5 ... Male surface fastener type pad,
6,7 ... band, 8 ... strip, 10,14 ... opening, 11
…… Rubber tube, 12… T-shaped part, 13… In / out, 15…
…tube.

Claims (9)

(57) [Claims] 1. A chest enclosure for use in producing assisted breathing of a patient's lungs, comprising: a tunnel-like member covering the chest, made of rigid but flexible plastic; Walls at each end of the member, each having a concave radially inner perimeter for contacting and sealing the front of the patient's body and made of an air-impermeable, flexible cushioning material Made of a flexible, air-impermeable material extending from each of the longitudinally extending edges of the tunnel-like member for enclosing the member and a mutually overlapping relationship about the chest region of the patient's back. A band, means for securing the band to maintain the band in the overlapping relationship, and an air passage to the enclosure for coupling to an air oscillator which in use generates a periodic change in air pressure. Chest surround 2. The enclosure according to claim 1, wherein the tunnel-shaped member is formed by bending a plastic sheet. 3. An enclosure according to claim 1, wherein the end of the tunnel-like member which is closer to the neck of the patient in use has a central tongue extending forward. 4. The enclosure according to claim 1, wherein said plastic material has a thickness of 0.5 to 3 mm. 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein said plastic material has a thickness of 1 to 2 mm.
2. The enclosure according to claim 1, which has substantially the same rigidity and flexibility as the polycarbonate sheet and is transparent. 6. A foam material comprising closed cells, each of said wall members having a radially outer portion made of a relatively rigid foam material and a radially outer portion made of a relatively soft foam material. An inner portion, each of said bands having a width extending substantially the entire length of each edge of said tunnel-like member, said band being a foam material comprising closed cells. The enclosure according to any one of claims 1 to 5. 7. One of said bands is shorter than the other and one of said bands is thicker than the other, said longer band is thicker, and said fixing means is connected to each end of said tunnel-like member. An enclosure according to any one of the preceding claims, which acts to provide sealing tension on the substantially straight outer band. 8. The tunneling means extends from one side of the tunnel-like member substantially parallel to one another, each being fixed to and extending beyond the outer bunt, and further each being provided with the tunnel-like member. A strap member cooperating with coupling means mounted on the opposite side of the member, wherein the coupling means is a surface fastener type pad and the cooperating surface fastener type material comprises The enclosure of claim 7, wherein the enclosure is provided on a strap member. 9. A breathing apparatus comprising an air oscillator and an enclosure according to any one of claims 1 to 8 for use in producing assisted breathing of a patient's lung.